So now, from this mad passion Which made me take art for an idol and a king I have learnt the burden of error that it bore And what misfortune springs from man's desire... The world's frivolities have robbed me of the time That I was given for reflecting upon God.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the dangers of allowing passion for art to distract from spiritual reflection.
Michelangelo expresses a deep regret about how his intense passion for art, which he revered almost as an idol, led him astray from contemplating deeper spiritual truths and his relationship with God. He acknowledges that this obsession has not only caused personal misfortune but has also diverted his time away from meaningful reflection, highlighting the tension between worldly desires and spiritual fulfillment.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of balance in life, I quoted Michelangelo to illustrate how passions can distract us from spiritual growth.
The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.
If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
Meeting authors is kind of the death of the characters. That is always heartbreaking.
As musicians and artists, it's important we have an environment - and I guess when I say environment, I really mean the industry, that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes, the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society.
Disneyland is the star, everything else is in the supporting role.
Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.
Television shows are not like cars or operating systems, and they are not best made by engineers or coders in the same assembly line manner as consumer products which need to be of uniform size, shape, and quality.
but writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior.
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